Monday, 17 September 2012

TOL issued when Lynas is still scrambling to deal with its hazardous waste

Press
statement of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL)

TOL issued when Lynas is still
scrambling to deal with its hazardous waste

September 18th, 2012

Last Friday, a
diplomat from the Australian High Commission informed Malaysia Insider that Lynas
has applied to the regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear
Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to return its radioactive waste from Malaysia. According to the diplomat, Canberra has
reiterated its policy of not accepting waste from another country. This policy was also shared by the Western
Australian Government. Its Minister for
Mining and Petroleum has several times rejected in the state Parliament the
notion that Lynas can ship the waste back to WA – see relevant attached
document for details

SMSL spokesperson Mr Tan Bun
Teet responded.

“When the government approved
of the TOL for Lynas in January, no safe or viable permanent solution was found
for its waste. Today, the TOL has been issued and yet Lynas is still scrambling
around trying to find a permanent solution to its waste.”

“Where is the Government’s duty
of care to protect citizens and our country’s future? The government is making
a fool of itself in the eyes of responsible governments the world over by
issuing the TOL at the expense of tax paying rakyat and our precious
environment.” He added.

The story prompted WA State
Greens MP Robin Chapple to criticise Lynas for trying to operate outside the
law in Australia as it is operating in Malaysia where legal scrutiny on toxic
waste is not as tight as in Australia – see details in http://robinchapple.com/lynas-left-holding-baby

Rare earth refinery produces
huge amounts of waste in all streams – potentially polluting the air, the water
and surrounding land.

“We are shamed of the BN
Government for not exercising prudence when dealing with one of the world’s largest
rare earth refinery project.” Lamented Haji Ismail Abu Bakar, a Kuantan
resident and a SMSL spokesperson.

“It is even more embarrassing
when the Government went so far as to give Lynas a 12-year tax holiday when
ordinary Malaysian tax payers have toil and work hard to pay their taxes hoping
to live in a clean and safe country in return!” He added.

Earlier this month, the Atomic
Energy Licensing Board (AELB) claimed in its press statement on its decision to
issue the TOL that Lynas has fulfilled all of the technical and additional conditions
set by the Government and that Lynas will remove the radioactive waste. However, no detail was provided as to how
Lynas has fulfilled them for public scrutiny.

Ram Pususamy another Kuantan
resident retorted “show us exactly how Lynas will remove its radioactive waste
from Malaysia! Show us how Lynas has fulfilled all of the seven additional
conditions set by the AELB and MOSTI!”

When the Malaysian Government
requested the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to review the
pre-licensing stage of the Lynas project, the IAEA made eleven recommendations
which both the Malaysian Government and Lynas have publicly pledged to adhere
to - see relevant attached document for details of the recommendations -http://on.fb.me/PMBJtm

“The AELB and MOSTI think we
are fools to accept their weak and hazardous proposition when we know for a
fact that Lynas has NO way of shipping its radioactive waste OUT of Malaysia legally.”
Continued Ram.

Apart from Australia’s refusal
to take back Lynas’ hazardous waste, trans-boundary transportation of hazardous
waste is controlled by the Basel Convention http://www.basel.int/.

Additionally, there remains
pollution risks for the air and water as huge amount of discharges in these two
streams are also expected from the Lynas plant.
In the USA at the Molycorp rare earth plant and in Lynas’ Australian
licensing conditions, the company is bound to a zero-discharge condition to
prevent contamination of ground water.
In both cases, strict air pollution control of hazardous gases is
required whereas for the Malaysian plant, details of how such pollution will be
minimised remain unclear.

Furthermore, the AELB’s track
record in managing radioactive waste remains poor and unsatisfactory. It has failed
to recover all of the radioactive waste from the previous rare earth plant in
Bukit Merah as would be expected under international standards to ensure public
safety.

“With the strong public support
we will do whatever it takes here in Malaysia, in Australia and in every corner
of the world where Lynas hopes to conduct its business. We will pursue legal actions and a wide range
of campaigning activities with the support of our allies until the rare earth
plant is shut down.” Concluded Mr Tan.

3 comments:

After reading this post/posts I can not help but point out factual evidence that is lacking in your argument. After reading this it appears that the main concern is no longer whether correct procedures are being met but, that everyone wants Lynas Corporation out of the country? To set up and run any business you need to meet strict regulations and a project of this magnitude would need exactly those before it could even be built.A great county such as Malaysia would surely have these correct guidelines in which to follow which no doubt have been meet. To spread incorrect information and encourage such behavior is not right.

The innovation of such a plant would be a great symbol of what the human race is able to achieve, with the products produced being used to promote a cleaner healthier world not to mention the technological advances that could be made with the help of such products.